Turkey has had a very unique past, located below the black sea and right of the Mediterranean made the country ideal for trade and culture. Turkey's history dates back to the 11th century with the ancient Anatolia. Anatolia was the first name of Turkey, and has been distinguished as the center of civilization. It has had a successive past from many different cultures. Now Anatolia is commonly known as Turkey, but why? Turkey's next stop in history is with the Byzantines and the Turks. In 1604 the Seljuk Turks under their sultan Alp Arslan, invade Armenia. For many centuries a growing dispute between the Byzantine empire and its neighbors to the east Armenia. Alp Arslan repeats his success on Armenia, with an attack on Georgia, in 1068.
The multiple acts of aggression prompt a response from the Byzantine emperor, Romanus IV Diogenes. The armies meet in 1071 at Manzikert, near Lake Van. The battle, a resounding victory for the Seljuks, is a turning point in the story of the Byzantine empire. Within a few years there are Turkish tribes in many parts of Anatolia. Some of them are bitter enemies of the Seljuk people, but the Seljuks are now the main power in this borderland between Islam and Christianity.
After the wars and quarrels are over, another empire rises the Ottoman empire. During the 13th century, when many Turkish emirates are being established in Anatolia, a weak chieftain by the name of Ertughrul wins control over a restricted area around Sögüt, between Ankara and Constantinople. He succeeded in about 1285 A.D by his son Osman, whose name is a Turkish version of the Arabic Othman. Through Osman, seen later as founder of the dynasty, his people become known as the Ottoman Turks.
Most of the Turks of Anatolia live in a style in keeping with their origins, as fierce nomads of the steppes. Riding out to war is their everyday activity. But they are also keen Muslims. They see themselves as ghazi, an Arabic word for warrior but with religious connotations.
Turks setting out on a ghaza (armed raid) are indulging in an expedition of plunder but also in a jihad (holy war). It is a potent combination. The powerless Byzantine empire to the west of their territory, crippled, ironically, by the Christian fourth crusade, provides the Ottoman Turks with a natural target.
Progress is at first slow. The Ottoman horsemen lack the equipment to take fortified Byzantine towns. Instead they plunder the surrounding countryside, effectively strangling their victims into submission. Bursa, the first important Byzantine stronghold to the west, falls to them in 1326, the year of Osman's death.
After the fall of Bursa the Ottoman advance quickens. Nicaea yields in 1331 and Nicomedia in 1337. In that direction a narrow neck of land leads directly to Constantinople, but the Ottomans prefer a roundabout route. In 1354 they cross into Europe at the other end of the sea of Marmara, capturing Gallipoli. Eight years later Adrianople falls to them, severing the main route westwards from Constantinople.
A stranglehold is being applied to the Byzantine capital itself, but the Turks look first for plunder in an easier direction. They continue westwards into the Balkans, where their successes prompt the formation of the formidable Ottoman fighting force known as the
Janissaries.
Skipping ahead to 1402 in Turkeys individual, unique history we look at yet another rise and fall in Turkeys past. The Ottoman domain shrinks drastically after Bayazid's defeat and capture by Timur in 1402. The many small emirs of Turkey reassert their independence, as do the Balkan states. The three sons of Bayazid are left with only the family's central territories round the southern and western sides of the sea of Marmara. They fight each other in a civil war which is won by the youngest, Mehmed I, in 1413.
From this unpromising position, the son and grandson of Mehmed (Murad II and Mehmed II, whose combined reigns span nearly seventy years) achieve an astonishing recovery for the Ottoman state - posing an ever greater threat to the Byzantine empire.
Murad patiently reasserts control over much of western Anatolia, and makes equivalent headway in the Balkans. Serbia is brought back into the Ottoman fold (Murad marries a Serbian princess in 1433). Much of Bulgaria also is recovered. A strong counter-attack down the Danube in 1443 by an army of Hungarians and Poles is at first successful, until the Ottoman Turks win a decisive victory at Verna in 1444.
This steady process is continued by Murad's son, Mehmed II. Mehmed II conquers Athens and almost the whole of the Greek peninsula in 1458-60. He then engages in a prolonged war with Venice, winning many valuable ports along the Adriatic coast. In 1463-4 captures Bosnia where a large number of nobles convert to Islam, unlike neighboring Serbia which remains largely Greek Orthodox, a distinction with resonance in more recent history. By the time of Mehmed's death, in 1481, Anatolia has also been recovered. Even regions north of the Black Sea are vassal states.
But the achievement which gives Mehmed his title of Fatih (Conqueror), and his secure place in history, has been his capture in 1453 of Constantinople.
History has its twists and turns but the next twist is tremendous. A month after his twenty-first birthday, in April 1453, Mehmed II applies to Constantinople the stranglehold which has been a tacit threat for nearly a century, ever since the Ottoman capture of Adrianople (Edirne in its Turkish name) in 1362. He initiates a tight blockade of the city by both sea and land.
The inhabitants, as often before, place their faith in their immensely strong city walls. Only on the harbor side are these walls vulnerable, and the harbor (the long creek known as the Golden Horn) is protected by a great chain preventing enemy ships from entering. But the young sultan has an answer to that.
At dawn, one Sunday morning in May, the defenders on the walls are surprised to see Muslim ships in the harbour. During the night they have been dragged on wheeled carriages, on a temporary wooden roadway, over a 200-foot hill. Over the next few days cannon are moved into place, including one 19-ton bombard. At sunset on May 28 the attack begins. Every bell in the city rings the alarm. Santa Sophia is full of people praying and singing Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy).
By dawn the Turks are in the city. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, has died in the fighting.
Mehmed, the sultan, goes straight to Santa Sophia to hear a proclamation from the pulpit - that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. The great church, for many centuries the most magnificent in Christendom, now begins its career as a mosque. And Constantinople gradually acquires a new name; the urban area, widely referred to in everyday Greek aseis tin polin (in the city), becomes Istanbul.
Regarding Turkey's past the culture and language is more important to who the Turkish people are. Let's start with the Turkish language, the language spoken in Turkey is, Turkish. 90% of the population would prefer this as their primary language. The language "speaks" to the personality and culture of the Turkish people. The language itself, I personally would consider, has its own "style". The language as I mentioned before directly influences the culture of Turkey, but what about the culture stands out. The first thing that may come to mind if you're thinking about culture is religion, the dominate religion is Islam. 98% of Turkey's population, is Islamic, Christianity is the minority in this circumstance. Enough of religion, next let's talk about the Turkish cuisine. 
